


Not So Simple

by dragons_and_angels



Series: Fantastic Beasts Kink Meme [10]
Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: 5 Things, Angst, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, POV Outsider, Serial Killers Involved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-07-18 09:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,638
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16115990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragons_and_angels/pseuds/dragons_and_angels
Summary: Sometimes Seraphina appreciates the drama of Graves' little crush and sometimes it just means more work for her.





	Not So Simple

**Author's Note:**

> This is a deanon from the kink meme! Prompt is 'Percival is socially awkward and has a crush on one of his Aurors. Seraphina Picquery finds this hilarious.  
> Five times Seraphina noticed Percival's crush and one time she noticed Tina's.'
> 
> This was written before the Crimes of Grindelwald trailer.

**1/**

She could loathe Grindelwald because of how he had captured one of her best Aurors and then walked around in his face. She could loathe him for how he made a fool of MACUSA or how the Swiss Delegate had been sending her smug and irritating letters asking her how she had let Grindelwald slip through her fingers like that. But most of all she resented Grindelwald for the sheer amount of paperwork he had incurred, made worse by his escape. In his time as Percival Graves, Grindelwald had reassigned the best Aurors to trivial tasks, hidden stacks of his own paperwork in his office and then claimed not to have gotten it, rerouted several important memos and cursed several doors so whoever opened them ended up in the hospital.

Seraphina could have appreciated these actions for the sheer havoc they caused, if she wasn't sure that Grindelwald had no master plan behind them, but had done them simply to fuck with her. The fact that no one else had noticed that Grindelwald as Graves was responsible for all of this apart from a British wizard not even in New York for three days was a matter of great shame to Seraphina and MACUSA and she didn't need any foreign wizards pointing it out.

"You know what I would like to do when I find Grindelwald?" She asked, knowing without looking up that Percival Graves had walked into her office. The only person she would allow to see her being anything less than competent.

"I know what I would like to do," Graves answered, sounding amused by his standards. He was even smiling when she looked up, or rather, smiling by his standards which meant his eyes looked slightly lighter.

"I want to give him all the paperwork he has caused and then triple it so he has nothing else to do but paperwork during his imprisonment." She closed another file and slammed it on her to-do list, unable to face looking at the expense charges anymore. Normally the accountant would have to deal with them but considering it was the No-Maj President that had drawn it up, she had to handle it herself.

"I was going to lock him in the same cupboard he had locked me in, but I think your way sounds worse." Graves moved forward and leaned against the bookshelf in front of her desk. He didn't sit down, that was only for mere mortals and weaklings in Percival Graves' eyes.

"We have to catch him first of all." She moved her paperwork to one side and ignored the unopened letters from the press, wanting an update of the Grindelwald situation and if MACUSA is so good, shouldn't they have caught the guy already? Never mind that several countries were out for Grindelwald's blood, according to the _Salem Star_ it was all MACUSA's fault. And that wasn't even looking at what the _Ghost_ thought of the situation. "There have been reports to No-Maj deaths up and down Broadway. The latest one has been right outside one of our Auror's apartments." She handed the file to Graves and he flipped it open before she had finished talking, examining the pictures with his laser focus. "The body parts are switched on all three bodies and sewn back together. The joins of these body parts are so complete they can only have been done by magic."

Any other person would wince or remark on how nasty the crime was. Graves saw no point in stating the obvious and immediately dived down into the facts of the case. It was one of those things that Seraphina appreciated most about him. "Any suspects or leads? Who's the Auror?"

"Everything they followed up has turned into a dead end. Summaries all in the report. The No-Maj police are involved which makes things everything ten times more complicated. Summers made a stupid comment in front of one of the smarter No-Maj and now they suspect him."

Graves' expression went blank which was just as telling as a flinch. Seraphina knew Graves would take care of Summers and his big mouth, hopefully by assigning some of this forsaken paperwork. "We're having to find this killer and keep the No-Maj from seeing far too much when they're tailing Summers." Graves took out a photo from the file and held it up to eye level, a furrow appearing in the middle of his eyebrows. "Maybe I can have him leading the No-Maj police away. And I can order him to stay in his jail cell if he gets arrested." Summers wasn't under his direct authority but Seraphina didn't doubt that he could find a way.

"What are you thinking of?" Seraphina approved of Graves' methods of dealing with Summers but she knew that look on his face. He saw something in the photos.

"This place looks familiar," Graves murmured, more to himself than to Seraphina. "Which Auror's home was this body found outside again?"

"Tina Goldstein." Now that look was very interesting. Seraphina watched as Graves, for once in his life, struggled to get his expression under control. "Worried, Graves?"

"Of course not," Graves lied, quite blatantly, to her face. Seraphina would be irritated if she couldn't see the lie from a mile off. Graves looked uncomfortable and that was not something you saw everyday. "Tina is a perfectly capable Auror when she's not rushing into things without thinking about them. She would be fine against this individual, I'm sure of it."

"Of course she would," Seraphina said calmly, making sure none of her amusement showed in her voice. "After all, you don't tolerate incompetence, even from _Tina_."

The point landed and Graves now looked more like a hunted rabbit, in a solemn, understated way that Seraphina was sure only she could see. Graves opened his mouth before he closed it, seeming to realise there was no way of him getting out of this. The deer in the headlights expression disappeared, replaced by his usual mask. "If this is everything, Madam President, I will head out to start working on the case."

"You're dismissed, Graves. Give Goldstein my best." She turned away from Graves as she said the last part and heard, with satisfaction, the pause in his footsteps. He continued to the door without saying anything else and Seraphina turned back to the mounds of paperwork on her desk.

 

**2/**

Seraphina was heading home, to her very understanding fiancée and their two large dogs, when she ran into a commotion at the entrance to MACUSA. It was a well-known fact (probably too well-known for Seraphina's safety) that she took the back entrance in and out of MACUSA. The last thing she wanted at the start or end of her days was to run into her employees, members of the public or, even worse, the press. This also meant that she saw when the Aurors were being ridiculous.

She was coming down the staircase, preferring to forego the use of the elevator at this time of day when it would be packed, and heard the commotion before she could see it.

"He's Grindelwald's fucking dog. How else could he come back looking not different at all?" Dixie, one of the Magical Law Enforcement who hadn't been smart enough to be an Auror or fast enough to be a Hit Wizard, so had settled for a job in the Beast Division of MACUSA. He wasn't normally a troublemaker, preferring to get on with his job and leave at five o'clock on the dot so he could head out to get a drink with his colleagues. He was reasonably popular, mostly because he was always up for a good evening out, but Seraphina never had a good opinion of him.

It was satisfying to hear that was confirmed to be the right reaction.

"Considering you don't know what goes on here most of the time, I wouldn't trust your opinion on anything to do with Grindelwald or Mr Graves." Far more eloquent than Seraphina had expected from Tina but maybe she had learned some restraint after that affair with the Barebone woman.

There was a soft creak behind her and Seraphina turned her head to see the man himself on the stairs, raising one eyebrow at her in question. She smiled and put a finger to her lips, an age-old gesture indicating the need for secrecy. Graves looked surprised but did as she asked. Thankfully, Tina kept talking. "He's a far better man than you could ever hope to be. You don't know what happened to him under Grindelwald and you don't have the right to know."

Graves' face was doing something interesting again. Seraphina didn't know why she needed Grace's soap operas when she had one going on right in front of her at work. "Does she have the right?" Seraphina whispered as quietly as she could. Graves' glare could burn a hole through a diamond but Seraphina still remembered the time he had gotten drunk on imported Firewhiskey at Ilvermorny and proclaimed he was going to be King of the world someday.

"Please. All the women in this place just want to hop on Graves' dick. You and the President are just as bad as each other." Graves' face was going an interesting colour and Seraphina thought they really needed to step in before Dixie could sign his own death warrant. She didn't flatter herself that Graves was this offended over the slight against her honour, though it would be part of it. They were friends after all. "Why do you think you were reinstated as an Auror, Goldstein? Like hell was there was any other reason apart from Graves wanting to get one last good fuck out of you..." Graves shoved past Seraphina, more gently than she had expected from the look of absolute fury on his face right now. She followed along, angry at Dixie himself for his insults - she always despised people who blamed others' success on any other factors apart from the fact that they were just better - but mostly delighted at Graves' reaction.

Someday she would examine why she was so entertained by the lives of her Aurors, but it wasn't going to be today.

Dixie had his back to the entrance of the stairwell which meant he kept talking, more unimportant things about how Goldstein had slept her way to the top, nevermind that Goldstein would have been dead on her first raid if that was true, and hadn't noticed Director Graves nor President Picquery entering the room. Goldstein however did, and the anger on her face dissolved into embarrassment. There were several other witnesses present who made themselves scarce or at least less visible when Seraphina and Graves appeared on the scene. She noted most of their names, none of them had seen fit to tell Dixie to sit down and shut down. If Graves wasn't in such a towering rage, she was sure he would be doing the same thing.

The only oblivious man in the room stopped to take a breath and Seraphina spoke up, "oh, don't stop, Mr Dixie. Tell us more about these facts you know." Dixie's reaction was so gratifying and Seraphina was unable to resist smiling as the man turned around so fast he tripped over his own feet. It wasn't a nice smile.

When he saw Graves was there as well, he went paler, if that was physically possible with his pasty white skin. Seraphina didn't know what was on Graves' face right now but she was betting that it wasn't anything nicer than her smile and was probably a lot more terrifying. Indeed, most of Dixie's fear was focused on Graves. Seraphina would have to try harder. "Yes, you had just finished sharing your ignorant opinions with the rest of your coworkers about Grindelwald and Mr Graves and then you had moved on to implying that every woman in MACUSA had reached the position they had on their back." Out of the corner of her eye, Seraphina saw the blonde curls of the younger Goldstein sister. Queenie seemed to have been drawn here by her sister's distress and Seraphina could only hope that she put the word out about what Dixie had said. Soon enough he would learn exactly how many women were employed here at MACUSA. "First thing tomorrow, I would like to see you in my office to discuss these opinions and your need to share them in loud enough tones that the floor above can hear you."

"M-Madam President," Dixie said, the first chance he had to speak.

"Mr Dixie, I don't think there is anything you can say in your favour right now," Graves said in a tone of quiet menace. Seraphina had always admired that tone. He was the only one who could do it as well as she could and that was important in a Director of Magical Security. "I think the best thing you can do is go home and stay there until morning." Dixie wasn't going to disagree with this obviously. He disappeared so fast that Seraphina would think he had apparated if she didn't know the Apparation Point was further down the hall.

Graves took a step forward as if he was going to follow Dixie, before turning to Goldstein. "You alright, Goldstein?" None of the anger was in his voice now, only gruff concern. Seraphina wanted to stare, because that was not a tone she generally heard from Graves, but she was more than aware of their audience. This had to look like superiors being concerned over one of their employees being verbally abused at work, not anything more.

"Mr Dixie was out of line, Auror Goldstein," Seraphina said as she stepped forward. She didn't need to pitch her voice, the hall was quiet enough that her voice carried nonetheless. "He will receive what he deserves." She turned her head slightly, calling to Queenie Goldstein silently and the bright blonde witch appeared next to them. "Ms Goldstein, can you take your sister home and make sure she doesn't return to MACUSA until tomorrow morning? I know her work ethic is in overdrive but we can handle tonight without your help." She smiled, far kinder than earlier, in order to soften the blow of her words. She didn't want Goldstein, or anyone else here, to think she was in disgrace. Queenie nodded, her face straight and unsmiling for once, and led Goldstein out by her arm. Goldstein looked back, her emotions written all over her face and Seraphina tried not to let herself stiffen.

"Mr Graves, it appears we have something more to discuss before we can go home," Seraphina said quietly as Graves watched the two women disappear round the corridor to the Apparation point.

"I agree," he said and then followed her up to her office.

 

**3/**

Dixie was offered the chance to fire or quit his job and Seraphina thought he should count himself lucky that he wasn't fired in front of everyone in the hall at the time. Even if Mr Graves hadn't been so in favour of it, Seraphina couldn't allow a wizard who verbally abused his colleague, especially a wizard who wasn't very good at his job in the first place, to stay in MACUSA. They weren't desperate enough to need more people who showed up and did the bare minimum the job required and if they had other problems like Dixie did, it wasn't a hard decision to get rid of him. The case continued and Graves came periodically to update Seraphina on how it was doing. She stayed away from the topic of Goldstein, she was too well-acquainted with Graves to know exactly when to push and when to let things go, but instead focused on the mess that was MACUSA since Grindelwald had been discovered.

Three more No-Maj victims had been found, one of them a ten-year-old child which had given Seraphina unsettling dreams of adult bodies with child heads, and the last two had been found on the same street that the Goldsteins lived. Once or twice was a concidence, three times was a pattern and a disturbing one at that.

It led to Graves coming into her office early one Wednesday morning and Seraphina's secretary, a tall man with a nervous disposition, came hurrying after him. "Mr Graves, you don't have an appointment."

"It's alright, Barnes," Seraphina said, cutting off her secretary before he could say more. She was impressed he had even tried to interrupt Graves when the man had that look on his face. Maybe he was more courageous than she thought. "I'll see him now."

At least Graves waited until the door closed behind Barnes and the privacy spells sprung back into place before letting rip. "With all due respect, Madam President," he said through gritted teeth, "but why did I come in this morning to find the Auror Goldstein and her sister are incarcerated downstairs?"

"I really do think you're overreacting, Graves," Seraphina said, just to watch her friend's blood pressure rise noticeably. "They're not incarcerated, they're under Auror protection. No one could think Queenie or Tina Goldstein could actually commit the murders you are investigating but half of the bodies have been found on their street and the only magical people on that street are the two of them and Esther Esposito. Esposito was gently encouraged to go and visit her sister upstate and we brought the Goldsteins in."

"Seraphina, she didn't do it." Oh, they were straying into personal territory here.

"Percival, you know as well as I do, that I have to do something here. We call it protection but it will silence all the whispers about favourtism that have been going around." Graves looked like he wanted to say inappropriate about what he thought about the whisperers but Seraphina was glad he didn't. "And I'm not so sure they're wrong."

Now Graves looked shocked. "You can't surely think that I would - that I could cover up something like this."

"Of course not." That was one thing Seraphina never doubted. "You're almost too devoted to your job as Director." Now Graves looked confused, a minuscule furrow in his brow, the corners of his mouth turning down ever so slightly. Mercy, she had no idea how Goldstein managed to read anything off him at all, Seraphina only managed through years of long practice. "If you ever had suspicions, you would immediately turn the case over to someone else due to conflict of interest and make sure they knew you suspected her." It both was and wasn't a question.

"Conflict of interest?" It looked like it hurt for Graves to ask the question.

"Percival, as your friend and not your President, I am asking you, would you be able to be completely objective about Tina Goldstein if she came up in one of your cases?" The question made Graves turn away, striding over to her window. It was charmed to show the scene from whatever city she wanted to. Right now it was set to London and the gloomy overcast skies that were so typical of that country. Seraphina hadn't been in a very sunny mood lately and she liked looking at the lights of London as the sky grew dark over there.

Graves didn't answer the question but Seraphina really hadn't expected one anyway. The look on his face was enough to confirm her suspicions anyway.

"I do not think it's obvious to anyone apart from me and maybe Ms Goldstein." She was pretty sure that Queenie listened carefully to anyone's thoughts about Tina and she would continue to do so no matter what anyone else said. The Goldstein sisters protected each other and Seraphina wasn't one to stand in the way of that as long as it didn't get in the way of their jobs. And didn't involve anymore magical creatures or No-Maj romances again. "Do not feel like you have to act on it or do anything. Simply know that your feelings are more involved and if you feel like they interfering with your ability to carry out this case, come and let me know immediately."

Percival nodded but said nothing. It didn't look like he could anyway.

Seraphina took pity on him. "Solve this case, Graves. Deal with everything else afterwards." He had offered the same advice when her boyfriend had dumped her before her MACUSA entrance exam. Seraphina had been good at compartmentalising but the break-up had seemed to come out of nowhere and the shock had made her more off-balance than anything else. Then Graves had come along and rather than useless words of pity or apology, he had told her to put it into a box and deal with it after the exam.

"Yes, Madam President." He dismissed himself, his shoes rapping smartly against the floor.

 

**4/**

When she had given Graves that advice, she hadn't been anticipating everything turning into a clusterfuck so quickly. She had been working late, dealing with a nasty letter from the editor of _The New York Ghost_ , since it was far better for that not to be hanging over her when she went home tonight, when a red paper rat appeared on her desk. A memo from the Healers ward but the red marked it as urgent. The last time she had got one was when Graves had been found, held together by magic and wishes, after Grindelwald had been captured.

Seraphina opened up her desk drawer and tapped her wand on the button which could alert her Vice President of the situation, before she touched a finger to the Portkey in her desk drawer. The swirling unpleasantness of the Portkey and she was landing in the main entrance to the Hospital Ward attached to MACUSA.

It was chaos and Seraphina had to set off a firework at the end of her wand before anyone turned to look at her. "Everybody calm down and someone tell me what is going on."

Healer Meng appeared out of the woodwork and Seraphina focused her attention on him as everyone got back to what they were doing, this time with far less panic. "Director Graves has the details," was the first thing he said to her. "From what I can tell, the killer they had been chasing lately had help from inside MACUSA. He got Queenie Goldstein and told Tina to come alone if she wanted her sister to live." He started to walk down the corridor and Seraphina followed him.

Seraphina's insides turned to ice. It was like someone had worked out the worst possible way for this case to end and then made sure it had been carried out. For all her joking, she didn't want to see Percival Graves after he lost Tina Goldstein on a case he was working on. The guilt would bury him if the grief didn't manage to. And Auror Goldstein was a good Auror, she didn't deserve to go out that way.

"How are they?" She didn't know who to mention first. Graves, who would have thrown himself headfirst into the battle, Tina who was fighting for her sister, or Queenie, who wouldn't let her lack of Auror training hold her back.

"Director Graves is fine. Some lacerations and bruises but he wouldn't let us heal him. Queenie Goldstein will be okay, she's unconscious from a nasty hex the killer used but we've stopped the progressing magic and healed what was damaged. She got here early, she's going to be fine. Tina Goldstein," Healer Meng took a deep breath and Seraphina gave him a sharp look. "We're finding it hard to treat her. She seems to have been hit by several curses, one of them was a rebound from Director Graves which we were able to identify, but the combination of the spells is causing problems. She's deteriorating and we can't do much to stop it."

"Why are you wasting time here telling me about this?" Seraphina said. It was completely unfair of her, she had asked for him to do so, but the thought of Tina Goldstein wasting away in a hospital bed was hard to hear and she couldn't imagine what it was doing to Graves. To Percival, her friend.

Healer Meng didn't seem phased by her rudeness however. "I need you to get Director Graves away from her bedside. He has been... irrational and hard to convince that we need the space."

"Yes, he would be concerned after one of his own people was attacked like that," Seraphina murmured, more to herself but making sure it was clear enough for Healer Meng to hear. "We'll need a room nearby and completely privacy. You heal Auror Goldstein and I will deal with Director Graves."

Healer Meng nodded. "There's a waiting room at the end of the ward. We keep trying to get Director Graves to go in there but he doesn't want to let Auror Goldstein out of his sight and his magic... it's interfering with ours."

The more she heard, the worse it seemed and when she stepped onto the ward, her suspicions were confirmed. Graves was standing by Tina Goldstein's bed, Goldstein herself being nothing but a pale lump of hospital sheets and a mop of dark hair, and the malestrom of magic around him was almost visible to the naked eye. A small, distant part of Seraphina noted the expression on his face was far too obvious to quell the rumours but the larger part of her was far too concerned about Graves and Goldstein to care.

Healers dressed in lime green were hurrying from place to place, only one of them, the most junior one by the fewer numbers of stripes on her sleeve, was standing next to him, valiantly trying to persuade him to move. However the softly softly approach wouldn't work on Percival Graves when he was in his right mind and it certainly wouldn't work now.

"Mr Graves," Seraphina said. She didn't need to raise her voice, she got everyone's attention anyway. The best Healers went straight back to work as soon as they acknowledged her presence but others were far too distracted as she walked towards Graves. "I need your report now." Graves turned his head slowly to look Seraphina in the eye and it was only years of mental training that stopped her from gasping. His eyes, it was like Goldstein was already dead and Percival Graves was tearing himself apart because of it, and it was hard to keep eye contact. She managed it though, for there was no other option for Graves or Goldstein. "Now, Mr Graves."

Duty won over the need to stay by Goldstein's side by a fraction and Seraphina led him to the small room which Healer Meng had indicated. She put up the privacy wards and watched as Percival Graves broke down.

 

**5/**

It seemed to take an age for Graves to stop gasping as if he had been punched in the solar plexus. The dry sobs were one of the worst things Seraphina had ever heard, he hadn't even made those sounds when he had come back from Grindelwald, at least not in Seraphina's hearing, and she had a feeling that she would be hearing the sounds in her sleep for weeks to come.

"Did you hear?" Graves asked when he had gotten control of himself. His voice was hoarse, but controlled. As much as the breakdown had been uncomfortable for Seraphina, it was what he had needed and to hear him sound almost normal afterwards when it was obvious he was anything but, made everything that much more.

"Healer Meng explained some of it but not all. He said you had the details."

Graves sat up, his face blank, though the marks of strain were obvious for anyone who cared to look. In a flat, dull voice, he reported exactly what had happened - how he had gone to check on the Goldsteins before heading home and found the cell empty and the guards Confunded. How he had tracked them down to a building by the docks in the city and engaged the killer, an American born wizard by the name of Maximus Wilhelm, who idolised Tina Goldstein as the perfect specimen of humanity after some improvements he had created. How at the end of the fight left only Percival Graves standing and Queenie and Tina Goldstein unconscious at his feet. The Aurors were pulling apart Wilhelm's residence to find anything useful while Graves had taken the Goldsteins into MACUSA to be healed. Side-Along Apparation was tricky enough, let alone with two injured witches. It was best that Percival Graves had done it, he wouldn't have trusted it to anyone else.

"Did you hear?" he asked her when he was coming to the end of his official report. Everything he had said would go into the written report but Seraphina knew there was more to the whole thing.

"Hear what?" she asked.

Graves looked at her with the same dead eyes. "One of my spells hit Tina and that is what causing the problem. The combination of spells together isn't one they've seen enough of to treat."

"You're acting like she's already dead," Seraphina chided and regretted it when she saw Graves flinch. "Do not let go of hope, Percival. Queenie Goldstein is going to survive, why wouldn't her sister do the same?" It was far more optimistic than Seraphina was used to being and it sounded strange in her voice. Graves cast her a look as if he was finding it weird to hear her say such things which made him look far more alive than he had so far and Seraphina felt her heart rise.

"Hope has got nothing to do with it, Seraphina, just like strength has nothing to do with whether Tina will survive or not. Luck and experience are what matters and all we can do is wait." He leant forward to rest his arms on his knees and stare at the ground. "I do know that I can answer your question now."

"What question?" Seraphina was seeing Graves pack his feelings behind the wall he kept between the world and himself. It was strangely discomfiting to see it under these circumstances, no matter how many times she had seen him do it beforehand.

"About a conflict of interest." He stared down at his hands. "I'm too attached to Tina, I know this now. If she survives..." his voice broke and he brought back under control with ruthless intent, "if she survives, she'll have to be transferred to one of the other teams. She can't keep reporting to me, not when she is my employee. I will always second guess every decision I make with her and that will get her killed." _If hasn't already_ went unspoken but both of them heard it nonetheless.

"I suppose discussing it with Auror Goldstein herself is out of the question." Seraphina probably deserved the look she got from Graves at that. She didn't even bother asking whether he had thought about making his interest clear to Tina. "Very well. If needed, we will discuss it afterwards."

"Thank you, Seraphina."

She didn't leave Graves throughout the long wait. She talked to Grace briefly on their communication mirrors and told her she would be late home but apart from that, they waited in silence. When Healer Meng came to tell them that Tina Goldstein would survive and probably be able to go back to being an Auror again before the month was out, Seraphina saw the look on Graves' face when he got the news. The relief and love was clear as day to her and she wished things could just be simple.

 

**+1**

Goldstein had been back at work for one day before she stormed into Seraphina's office. This time she wasn't dragging a confused looking magizoologist behind her, thank Circe for small mercies, but she had obviously worked herself into quite a state. Seraphina really should curb disrespect like this, but she was uncomfortably reminded that the last time she had cut Tina off it had been when she had something very important to say.

"Goldstein, you must have a good reason for not knocking." Seraphina gestured to Barnes who nodded his head and retreated back outside the door. She set up the privacy wards, just in case. "I hope you're feeling much better now."

The wind seemed to be taken out of Goldstein's sails at this genuine enquiry into her health and she nodded jerkily. "Er, yes, Madam President." There was a moment of silence as the two of them stared at each other and Seraphina made a 'carry on' gesture. "Oh, right," Tina said, seemingly remembering why she had come in here in the first place. "Apparently Mr Graves is being punished for his conduct on the Wilhelm case. Madam President, he did nothing wrong on the case. There was no way he could have known about Wilhelm having insider information and it was me who went after Queenie in the first place."

"Yes and as reckless as that was, that does not explain why you think Director Graves is being punished." Seraphina put down her quill. She was curious as to the nature of Tina's feelings towards Graves. She had assumed it was admiration with a dash of hero-worship but barging into the President's office took guts. Recklessness as well but that was a given.

"I've been reassigned to the Deputy Director and Mr Graves looked like he didn't want to do it but said it wasn't meant as a punishment for me. He said nothing about him. Not to mention how the Deputy Director said that you weren't happy with Mr Graves' outburst in the MACUSA hospital ward and he had been suspended from work for failing to prevent Wilhelm's actions."

Of all the stupid people. Seraphina understood Graves' reasons for reassigning Goldstein and she even understood that he had few options but to assign her to Deputy Director Markwell, who was certainly more suited to a desk job than one as an active Auror, was not the smartest move. Markwell needed to learn to keep his mouth shut and his thoughts to himself.

There was a lot to unpack. "Goldstein, first of all understand that what I'm going to say to you does not leave this room, understood?" Goldstein nodded and had the grace to look apprehensive. "I was not happy about Director Graves' outburst in the hospital. He should have more control than to lose control like that because one of his people was injured." She neglected to say that the outburst was because Tina was injured but the revelation seemed to rock Goldstein all the same.

"He was like that because I was injured?" she asked, although it seemed like she didn't require an answer from the President. Seraphina realised that this could go on for a while and decided to take a calculated risk.

"Graves recognised that his control was a thin thread around you, so he requested you be reassigned. It was not because of his actions, but rather to prevent a conflict of interest." Then she sat back and watched realisation dawn on Goldstein's face. She wasn't Graves' favourite Auror just because of her pretty face.

"That was not what I expected to hear." Try as she might, Goldstein couldn't stop the small smile on her face and Seraphina felt herself relax to see Graves' feelings were reciprocated. She knew Goldstein wouldn't take advantage of Graves' feelings and despite what Graves thought, him making the decisions without Goldstein's input was an exercise of power even if he didn't see it that way. This way both of them were aware of each other's feelings and they could have an adult discussion about it.

The conversation was stalled when there was a swift knock on Seraphina's door and then Graves walked in without waiting for an answer.

"Madam President, I have the report - Tina." Graves had been looking down at a folder in his hand when he came in and stopped short at the sight of Goldstein in the middle of the room. Seraphina sighed and waved a hand, closing the door wandlessly.

"I'm thinking of getting a heavy lock for my door," she commented.

"Mr Graves." Goldstein sounded breathless and she had also gone bright red. Graves look like he had been struck over the head with a mallet and Seraphina wanted to go and bury herself in the paperwork behind her desk in the hope that she would forget all about this. This was no longer entertaining, it was painful.

"Goldstein." Graves seemed lost about what to say next and Seraphina sighed.

"Now we know everyone's names, I would like to get back to work. Goldstein, you got your answer. You're dismissed. Graves, tell me why you barged into my office." It was like dealing with children with their first love except Seraphina didn't remember being this annoying around her first crush (Madeline Yates, two years above Seraphina in Ilvermorny, a Potions genius).

There was some dancing around by the door as Goldstein went one way and Graves went the other. It went on for so long that Seraphina had to put the quill down just to stare at them in disbelief.

"That was painfully awkward, even considering Auror Goldstein was one of the parties," Seraphina said as soon as the door shut behind Goldstein.

"Shut up." Graves looked like he could go outside and hang himself just like they did to the so-called witches back in Salem.

"I had heard that you were socially awkward around someone you liked but I didn't realise it was quite that bad." Seraphina had seen him when Goldstein wasn't around and that was bad enough. When she was there, it seemed to get ten times worse.

"That's not - who told you that?"

"Theseus Scamander." He had been a font of information after they straightened out the whole mess of them accidentally sentencing his little brother to death. There may not be much family feeling between the Scamander brothers but Theseus had been more than displeased that an outside threat had attacked his brother.

"What were you talking about?" Graves seemed to have forgotten all about the information in his hand and Seraphina was fast reaching the end of her patience.

"If you want to know, you can ask her. Graves, what did you come in here to tell me?" Finally his professionalism snapped back into place and he got back to telling Seraphina what was going on with her organisation. The normal rhythms of work soothed Seraphina and so when Graves came to a stop, she felt almost herself again.

"Seraphina, why was Auror Goldstein here?"

She looked up at him and, for a second, didn't remember Graves and Goldstein's personal drama. "Oh," she said as it came back to her. "Markwell is an idiot and said you were being punished for losing control on the Healers Ward and that is why she has been reassigned. All up in arms about it too."

"What? Why would she do that?"

"For Circe's sake," she muttered. "Graves, I'm going to tell you something and I don't want any questions about it. It's been twenty-five years since I was fifteen and I do not remember adolescent dramas fondly. Auror Goldstein has very similar feelings to those you have for her." She held up a hand as it looked like Graves was going to argue about it. "I don't have time to convince you. Use that information as you will. You're dismissed."

And then her office was empty except for her and she had some peace at last.

"Bliss," she muttered to herself. Maybe she would even get out on time tonight.


End file.
